Monitoring Patient Interactions via Social Media

If your practice isn’t already utilizing the social aspect of social media, you could be missing out on a crucial opportunity to build your network and strengthen your social presence. Is your practice looking for some guidance regarding this topic and wondering how it can benefit you? If so, this blog was created with you in mind! 

Let’s start with the basics, what does it mean to monitor patient interaction? By monitoring patient interaction, your practice has the ability to connect with current/potential patients through social media engagement. This includes everything from a patient commenting/liking your post to someone reaching out individually. 

When engaging with your patients through social media, it’s important that you stay true to your practice’s style. Think of how you would handle interaction with a patient face-to-face.  With social media, even though you lose the physical element, it’s important to maintain the voice and human element of your practice in your posts and communication. Keep conversations authentic and genuine as this allows you to humanize the relationship to keep people engaged. 

You may be wondering, “how can I utilize these interactions to benefit my practice specifically?” Below are a few simple ways to engage with your patients on social media and strengthen your social presence. 

Respond to patient questions/comments 

Sharing a post on a social media platform is generally as far as most practices go with their social media strategy. While sharing content from your office is one of the most important aspects of social media strategy, taking it a step further could prove to be more beneficial for your practice. For example, taking the time to address your patients in the comments or through direct messages reaffirms your connection to them. 

When engaging with your patients over social media, it’s important to be authentic and create two-way communication. By providing two-way communication, your patients may feel more inclined to engage with your content or ask questions if the relationship is reciprocated. This kind of engagement should feel natural to your practice as if the person were there in the office. That will create a more social and enjoyable experience for your patients when it comes to engaging with your practice. 

Engage with patients regarding their experience 

Whether it’s negative or positive, you are able to communicate with your patients over social media to further the conversation. For positive comments via social media, it can be as simple as thanking a person for their kind words and letting them know you look forward to seeing them at their next visit. Such interaction helps create customer loyalty with that patient while strengthening your social presence. 

For people who have posted negative comments regarding their experience, think of those scenarios as a great opportunity to clear the air and save the relationship to keep the patient coming back. By reaching out to a dissatisfied patient and offering to learn more about their experience in an effort to avoid this kind of situation in the future, humanizes your practice over social media and creates an opportunity to gain back that patient in an effort to maintain customer loyalty. This strategy also shows other potential new patients that you care about your reputation and will many times turn a negative review or comment into a positive experience.  

Take advantage of opportunities to expand your network 

Have you ever asked a friend for a recommendation? It’s probably a safe bet that everyone has at some point. With social media, it’s easy to ask and receive recommendations since people can tag the business in the comments and be routed directly to their business profile. This is a great way to interact with prospective patients! 

Once someone tags your practice in a post or comment, your profile will get a notification. Should this happen to your practice, it would be an opportune time to engage with the prospective patient with a like or comment encouraging them to schedule a consultation. By taking this initiative, it shows that your practice is attentive to your patients and wants to build relationships. 

 

While this blog contains a few ideas on how your practice can engage with patients over social media, we encourage you to utilize any opportunity to communicate with your network. Over time you may discover specific ways to engage with your patients that are unique to your practice. When it comes down to it, what would social media be if it wasn’t for the social aspect that comes from you and your patients? 

If you have any questions or want to further the conversation, please reach out. The Sesame Social Team would be happy to provide your practice with additional assistance when it comes to engaging with your patients and utilizing our in-house tools. Our team is ready to help, so contact us today! 

 

—Nicole Gamble, Social Media Specialist, Sesame Communications